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Its a big loss to the ever shrinking genre of mil av contributors .
Harry's "scoops" were authentic and his eye for details was incredible .
he went to great lengths to preserve his identity and was completely paranoid as well .
I remember on one occasion in 2006 Shiv started questioning all the attendees in one of the rare BR Blr meets if any one of us was B Harry
The other anecdote is about the time when Harry wanted to purchase a copy of the seminal India Pakistan Air War book from the well known Indophile at large in Philly these days.
Surely he would need to reveal his name and address ....
Well as the story goes - he got it posted in the name of B.Harry at an unknown PO box address in Chennai.
Typically being Harry - it took two years for the sad news to come out - RIP B Harry
The nation as well the enthusiastic jingoes on BRF have lost a valuable contributor! One cannot but help imagine the heights that this person could have scaled if he had lived longer.
My condolences go out to his grieving near and dear! Truly this is one person who lived life in his own distinct way, reminds me of Srinivasa Ramanujam!
To have life stretch out in its infinite possibilities, and then to see them all snuffed out so abruptly... unspeakably sad news. Condolences to the family and loved ones.
May your soul rest in peace, Harish. The few moments you shared with us will remain our memory of your short and sweet journey.
I'm simply staggered by his age. I still remember his meticulous taking apart, (with citations!) of "the-first-man-to-fly-faster-than-sounds" report of the PAF in 1965 at the Keymags forum. In fact, I'm fairly certain it was Harry who first posted the US Ambassadors actual report on that event!
And at the time he must have been just 18!!
His posts and articles on Tom Coopers ACIG site in those days were remarkable. In fact I remember a post of Toms saying that some of the IP addresses that accessed ACIG in those days were . . . quite "interesting"!
We all make jokes about internet "warriors", but Harry truly had the soul of a warrior with the mind of a scholar and a heart that beat for Bharat Mata.
Its very unfornuate to see the message about him this way. I think i had a small discussion about him recently. Didnt expect I would be typing a condolence message. A suggestion - seeing the way the people are very fond of him, next time you people do activities like Donation of Quick clot kits, give his name. Or, any stall that BR put up, let that be in remembrance of him.
I see his name and LCA are in synonomous with each other as far as BR is concerned. May be someone could make a tribute by collecting all his articles and a report about him under the LCA page.
I am very shocked at finding about this. I am on a self imposed exile due to various reasons. But this is so shocking I have to break it.
I never knew he was so young. Others have already said what Harry did in his so short life. But I would like to cover one aspect that has not been said here.
Harry loved picking fights with the pakis. he knew exactly what buttons to push. He was a born expert. But when he was elected the moderator at Key Forums, he didnt let his love for pushing paki buttons interfere with the forum moderation. As a forum moderator I have seen him calm, composed and responsible. I know it must have required tremendous self control not to break out and beat the pakis on their head, but to his credit, he held his opinion to himself, did his job with acumen that is not found elsewhere. He was fair in his dealings as far as I could tell.
Regarding him being anonymous - not really. I knew his last name was Kannan (dont ask me how). But I had no idea that Harry B was a derivation of his first name. RIP Harish.
Given the stellar space Harry had occupied in the small but active Indian defence enthusiast community, we feel that at the minimum, a meaningful tribute from BR should consist of a proper obit that would be published at SRR along with a collection of his articles.
This is a request that goes out to ALL readers of BRF, members & non-members alike, if you knew Harry in any capacity whether in real life or on net, and wish to contribute to his memorial page on BR, please contact us at
gentleman doTT cadet ATT g m a i l DOTT c o m. We would like to have any kind of input from you, whether be it one incident, one memory or a complete obituary. That goes even if you have already posted in this thread.
MadhuG, please send us an email at that address.
It is our duty to ensure that the enormous promise that was so tragically cut-off is made known to a larger community of people than just the ones who were fortunate enough to interact with him. May there be a 100 Harry's inspired by his example.
I am totally shocked to lose a lovely internet friend. He was very informative and responsive to all my questions and posts. Suddenly he disappeared about 2 years ago, and I thought he might have taken different avatars.
This is saddening to hear at 23 he is gone.. But, I am sure he stays virtually alive in the NET with his articles and posts.
Rest in Peace Harry...
I'll miss you and your fabulous drawings of IAF aircraft.
It is sad that Harry has passed at such a young age. It happened two years ago in 2007 and we're just finding out? Hmmmm....
Maybe the sad news was discussed back then but many of us just missed it.
(My condolence message re-posted here from MRCA thread)
Harry's father had recently got in touch with us. The family had very lovingly put together a tribute book about him. They offered to mail anyone a copy if they are interested. I had suggested that putting a PDF for download is more convenient as there may be quite a few dozen of us here interested.
Jagan wrote:Harry's father had recently got in touch with us. The family had very lovingly put together a tribute book about him. They offered to mail anyone a copy if they are interested. I had suggested that putting a PDF for download is more convenient as there may be quite a few dozen of us here interested.
Jagan wrote:Harry's father had recently got in touch with us. The family had very lovingly put together a tribute book about him. They offered to mail anyone a copy if they are interested. I had suggested that putting a PDF for download is more convenient as there may be quite a few dozen of us here interested.